Universal Pictures first announced plans for a modern reboot of
'The Mummy' franchise in 2012. The project went through multiple directors, with Len Wiseman leaving the project in 2013, and a second director, Andrés Muschietti, in 2014.
Unfortunately,
this
is not one of the best Mummy movies made, despite amazing
CGI special effects and Sophia
Boutella's performance as the
mummy - the best bits of the film. The casting is
what lets this picture down, and the mixing up of genres.
Setting too much of the picture in the UK, and London, may also have
been a plot error. Though inevitable, by including English
Knights, as keepers of the sacred dagger.
Why
a film fails is a compendium of errors. We wanted this film
to work. We wanted to enjoy it. In their own fields, Russell
Crowe and Tom Cruise are very watchable. But this formula
just does not tick the 'Mummy' box.
'The Mummy' is a 2017 American action-adventure film directed by Alex Kurtzman and written by David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dylan Kussman, with a story by Kurtzman, Jon Spaihts, and Jenny Lumet. A reboot of
The Mummy franchise as part of Universal's Dark Universe series, the film stars Tom Cruise as U.S. Army Sergeant Nick Morton, a soldier of fortune who accidentally unearths the ancient tomb of entrapped Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella). Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, and Russell Crowe also star.
The Mummy premiered at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia, on May 22, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 9, 2017, in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D.
The film received generally negative reviews from critics and despite grossing $410 million worldwide, it was estimated to have lost the studio as much as $95 million. Intended to kickstart the Dark Universe, an attempt to create a modern cinematic universe based on the classic Universal Monsters film series, the film's poor box office performance led to the initial discontinuation and cancellation of the Dark Universe due to the film's negative reception.
Following the critical and financial success of Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man (2020), development of the Dark Universe was resumed with the production of Chris McKay's Renfield, a reboot of the Dracula film series.
THE
PLOT
In present-day London, construction workers discover the
tomb of a crusader knight who was buried with an Egyptian ruby in AD 1127. In Iraq, U.S. Army soldiers Sergeant Nick Morton and Corporal Chris Vail discover the tomb of Princess Ahmanet, who attempted to summon the deity Set. She was caught and mummified alive. They and archaeologist Jenny Halsey, fly Ahmanet's sarcophagus to Britain, unknowingly bringing Ahmanet back to life.
During the flight, Chris is possessed by Ahmanet through a spider that bit him and attacks the others, only to be killed by Nick. Many crows attack the plane, causing it to crash, killing the crew except Jenny, who escapes by a parachute Nick gives her.
Please note that Ahmanet is not a real Egyptian princess,
but rather, an invented name.
Nick returns to life in a morgue. Chris' ghost appears and tells him he has been cursed by Ahmanet who seeks to use him as a vessel for Set. Ahmanet's mummy escapes from the sarcophagus and begins feeding on people to regenerate her body, turning them into zombies. She recovers the Dagger of Set and attempts to stab Nick, before realizing that the ruby is not attached to it. She and her army chase after Nick and Jenny until soldiers appear and subdue her.
The soldiers’ leader, Dr. Henry Jekyll, explains that Jenny is an agent of Prodigium, a
secret society dedicated to hunting supernatural threats. Nick and Jenny discover that Jekyll intends to allow Set to possess Nick completely, believing that this will render Set vulnerable.
Jekyll transforms into Eddie Hyde. Nick stops him with a serum that Jekyll invented for this purpose, allowing Nick and Jenny to escape. Ahmanet finds them, regains the dagger, summons many crusader zombies, and creates a large sandstorm in London. The crusader zombies kill the Prodigium soldiers and Ahmanet recovers the ruby, combining it with the dagger in order to free Set.
Guided by Chris' ghost, Nick and Jenny flee into the London Underground, where they are attacked by Ahmanet's zombies. Ahmanet captures Jenny and drowns her. When Nick is brought to Ahmanet, he sees Jenny's body, and the zombies turn to dust. Nick is injured when he tries to attack Ahmanet and he lets her embrace him as a ruse to steal the dagger and shatter the ruby. He strikes the pommel of the dagger against the floor, cracking the ruby, but Ahmanet reminds him that the dagger could grant him the power to reverse death. Instead of destroying the gem, he stabs himself and is possessed by Set. Nick goes to Ahmanet as Set begins to take over, but on remembering the words of Jenny and Jekyll, he regains control, turning on Ahmanet and using Set's powers to extract her life-force. Struggling against Set, Nick also
resurrects Jenny. Knowing that the Prodigium are coming for him, he says goodbye to Jenny and vanishes.
As Ahmanet is sealed back in her tomb, Jenny and Jekyll wonder whether Nick, now fused with Set, will use his powers for good. Nick returns to the desert and
resurrects Chris. The two go on to a new adventure.
Tom Cruise began talks about playing the lead in November 2015, with Sofia Boutella beginning talks that December. Gwen Stefani, Jamie Chung, Lindsey Stirling and Brooke Shields were also considered. Kurtzman cast Boutella after seeing and being impressed by her largely mute performance in Kingsman: The Secret Service. Kurtzman noted that "if you look at her eyes, and this is what I got from watching Kingsman, there's a whole performance going on here. And in not saying anything but conveying that much to me, I thought oh my god, no matter how much prosthetics we put on her, no matter how much CG we put on her face, if I see this, she's going to convey something very emotional to me." Other casting news was announced between March and May, with Russell Crowe joining during the latter month.
Shortly after the film opened, Variety reported that Cruise had excessive control over the film and firm control of nearly every aspect of production and post-production, including re-writing the script and editing to his specifications, telling Kurtzman how to direct on set, and enlarging his role while downplaying Boutella's. Universal contractually guaranteed Cruise control of most aspects of the project, from script approval to post-production decisions. In a statement, Universal denied that Cruise had a negative influence on the production, "Tom approaches every project with a level of commitment and dedication that is unmatched by most working in our business today," the statement read. "He has been a true partner and creative collaborator, and his goal with any project he works on is to provide audiences with a truly cinematic
movie going experience." Kurtzman said about the film in a 2019 interview that, "The Mummy wasn't what I wanted it to be. I'm no longer involved in that and have no idea what's going on with it. I look back on it now [and] what felt painful at the time ended up being an incredible blessing for me."
CLEOPATRA
THE MUMMY - UNDER DEVELOPMENT
'Cleopatra
- The Mummy' is the prequel to 'Kulo-Luna,'
two stories in the John Storm franchise (for which a draft
script is available to studios and actor's agents). The John Storm
franchise is a series of
ocean awareness adventures, featuring the incredible solar
powered trimaran: Elizabeth
Swann.
